In positioning systems based on satellite positioning, a positioning receiver attempts to detect its position based on signals from at least four orbiting satellites, using triangulation techniques. Satellites transmit code division multiple access (CDMA) signals which are received by the receiver. Embedded in each CDMA signal are Pseudo Random Noise (PRN) code sequences 1024 bits in length and transmitted continuously at a rate of 1 Mchip/s. Superimposed upon the PRN code by BPSK modulation (exclusive OR) is telemetry data at 50 bit/s structured in 5 subframes of 300 bits each. A chip is equivalent to one transmitted bit of the PRN code and is 1 microsecond in duration. A data bit is 20 ms in length during which the PRN sequence will have been repeated 20 times. Timing information spanning from carrier phase to PRN bit position down to the edges of the 50 bit/s modulation and subframes that contain ephemeris and other satellite vehicle data, are all precisely timing related and derived from the satellite vehicle's onboard atomic clock.